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WHAT THE WHITE RACE MAY LEARN FROM THE INDIAN
WHAT THE WHITE RACE MAY LEARN FROM THE INDIAN
GROUP OF HOPI MAIDENS AND AN OLD MAN AT MASHONGANAVI. What the White Race May Learn from the Indian BY GEORGE WHARTON JAMES Author of “In and Around the Grand Canyon,” “Indian Basketry,” “How to Make Indian and Other Baskets,” “Practical Basket Making,” “The Indians of the Painted Desert Region,” “Travelers’ Handbook to Southern California,” “In and Out of the Old Missions of California,” “The Story of Scraggles,” “The Wonders of the Colorado Desert,” “Through Ramona’s Country,” “Living the Radi
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FOREWORD
FOREWORD
I would not have it thought that I commend indiscriminately everything that the Indian does and is. There are scores of things about the Indian that are reprehensible and to be avoided. Most Indians smoke, and to me the habit is a vile and nauseating one. Indians often wear filthy clothes. They are often coarse in their acts, words, and their humor. Some of their habits are repulsive. I have seen Indian boys and men maltreat helpless animals until my blood has boiled with an indignation I could
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CHAPTER I THE WHITE RACE AND ITS TREATMENT OF THE INDIAN
CHAPTER I THE WHITE RACE AND ITS TREATMENT OF THE INDIAN
Ever since the white race has been in power on the American continent it has regarded the Indian race—and by this I mean all the aboriginal people found here—as its inferiors in every regard. And little by little upon this hypothesis have grown up various sentiments and aphorisms which have so controlled the actions of men who never see below the surface of things, and who have no thought power of their own, that our national literature has become impregnated with the fiendish conception that “t
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CHAPTER II THE WHITE RACE AND ITS CIVILIZATION
CHAPTER II THE WHITE RACE AND ITS CIVILIZATION
I am by no means a blind worshiper of our so-called “higher” and “advanced” civilization. I do not think we have advanced yet as far as the Greeks in some things. Our civilization, in many respects, is sham, shoddy, gingerbread, tinsel, false, showy, meretricious, deceptive. If I were making this book an arraignment of our civilization there would be no lack of counts in the indictment, and a plethora of evidence could be found to justify each charge. INDIAN BEADWORK OF RATTLESNAKE DESIGN As a n
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CHAPTER III THE INDIAN AND NASAL AND DEEP BREATHING
CHAPTER III THE INDIAN AND NASAL AND DEEP BREATHING
The Indian believes absolutely in nasal breathing. Again and again I have seen the Indian mother, as soon as her child was born, watch it to see if it breathed properly. If not, she would at once pinch the child’s lips together and keep them pinched until the breath was taken in and exhaled easily and naturally through the nostrils. If this did not answer, I have watched her as she took a strip of buckskin and tied it as a bandage below the chin and over the crown of the head, forcing the jaws t
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BEAUTY OF THE MORNING
BEAUTY OF THE MORNING
INDIAN BASKET, SHOWING INFLUENCE OF NATURE IN THE DESIGN. All children, and especially city children, need out-of-door life. Men and women need it too, sadly, but if the elders cannot have it, owing to our perverted social conditions, our law-givers should see to it that the children do better. It is a well-known fact that cities would soon die out if their vast populations were not constantly being replenished by the sons and daughters of the country. So instead of letting our city children gro
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GOD’S GIFT, THE AIR
GOD’S GIFT, THE AIR
Many white people go out tenting in the summer and think they are sleeping out of doors. What a foolish error. Here is what a scientific authority says upon the subject: “Are you tenting? If so, you should know: “That a well-closed tent is nearly air-tight, and consequently,— “That in an ordinary-sized tent, one occupant will so pollute the air as to render it unfit to breathe in less than twenty minutes; two occupants, in less than ten minutes. A CHEMEHUEVI INDIAN AND HIS OUT-OF-DOOR SHELTER FR
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CHAPTER VI THE INDIAN AS A WALKER, RIDER, AND CLIMBER
CHAPTER VI THE INDIAN AS A WALKER, RIDER, AND CLIMBER
As a part of his out-of-door life the Indian is a great walker and runner, having horses he is a great rider, and living in a mountainous or canyon region he is a great climber. The Indian walks through necessity, and also through delight and joy. He knows to the full “the joy of mere living.” A few miles’ walk, more or less, is nothing to him, and he does it so easily that one can see he enjoys it. In one of my books 1 I tell the story of the running powers of the Hopi Indians of northern Arizo
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CHAPTER VII THE INDIAN IN THE RAIN AND THE DIRT
CHAPTER VII THE INDIAN IN THE RAIN AND THE DIRT
How these “things we may learn from the Indian” grow upon us, as we study the “noble red man” in his own haunts. Again and again I have noticed that “ he doesn’t know enough to go in when it rains .” The white man who first coined that expression deemed it an evidence of smartness, and reared his head more proudly than his fellows because he was the author of so bright an idea. Yet when you come to consider it, what a foolish proposition it is! Go in when it rains? Why should you go in? Do the b
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CHAPTER VIII THE INDIAN AND PHYSICAL LABOR
CHAPTER VIII THE INDIAN AND PHYSICAL LABOR
Ministers and orators, teachers and statesmen, members of the W. C. T. U., as well as the Y. M. C. A., of the white race, all profess to believe that the white race believes in the dignity of physical labor. That profession is often a lie. We no more believe in the dignity of physical labor than we do in the refinement of a hog. Our actions give the direct lie to our words. I am writing with the utmost calmness, and say these strong words with deliberate intent. As a nation we are humbugs when w
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CHAPTER IX THE INDIAN AND PHYSICAL LABOR FOR GIRLS AND WOMEN
CHAPTER IX THE INDIAN AND PHYSICAL LABOR FOR GIRLS AND WOMEN
In the preceding chapter I have given the Indian’s life, habit, thought, towards physical labor for himself and his sons. He holds the same attitude toward it for his daughter and his wife. And not only does he so hold it, but the wife and daughter regard it in exactly the same way. The out-door life of the Indian girl and woman makes her healthy, vigorous, muscular, and strong. She glories in her physical vigor and strength, and wonders why her white sister is not equal to her in physical capac
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CHAPTER X THE INDIAN AND DIET
CHAPTER X THE INDIAN AND DIET
A man is largely the result of what he eats. Indeed, many scientific specialists now tell us that sex determination is largely the result of the food eaten by the expectant mother, so that according to what the mother eats the unborn child becomes—male or female. Ploss in his well-known “ Ueber die das Geschlechtsverhältniss der Kinder bedingenden Ursachen ,” Düsing in his painstaking “ Die Regulirung des Geschlechtsverhältnisses bei der Vernehrung der Menschen, Miere und Pflanzen ,” and Westerm
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EDUCATION
EDUCATION
Here are two educated men. The one has a smattering of Latin and Greek; The other knows the speech and habits of horses and cattle, and gives them their food in due season. The one is acquainted with the roots of nouns and verbs; The other can tell you how to plant and dig potatoes and carrots and turnips. The one drums by the hour on the piano, making it a terror to the neighborhood; The other is an expert at the reaper and binder, which fills the world with good cheer. The one knows or has for
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CHAPTER XII THE INDIAN AND HOSPITALITY
CHAPTER XII THE INDIAN AND HOSPITALITY
Another of the things I think we might well learn from the Indian is his kind of hospitality. Too often in our so-called civilization hospitality degenerates into a kind of extravagant, wasteful, injurious ostentation. I do not object, on formal occasions, to ceremonial hospitality, to an elaborate spread and all that goes with it. But in our every-day homes, when our friends call upon us for a meal or a visit of a week, it is not true hospitality to let them feel that we are overworking ourselv
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CHAPTER XIII THE INDIAN AND CERTAIN SOCIAL TRAITS AND CUSTOMS
CHAPTER XIII THE INDIAN AND CERTAIN SOCIAL TRAITS AND CUSTOMS
In the treatment of younger children by those who are older, the white race may learn much from the Indian. While it must be confessed that Indian youth are cruel to the lower animals, I have never seen, in twenty-five years, an older child ill-treat a younger one. There seems to be an instinctive “mothering” of the little ones. The houses of the Hopis are built on the edges of frightful precipices, to fall from which would be sure and certain death; yet, although the youngsters are allowed to p
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CHAPTER XIV THE INDIAN AND SOME LUXURIES
CHAPTER XIV THE INDIAN AND SOME LUXURIES
Most city men regard a shampoo as a city luxury of modern times, except, of course, for the rich, who could always have what they desire. Yet the shampoo is more common with some Indians than with us, and they enjoy it oftener than we do. The Indian’s wife takes the root of the amole , macerates it, and then beats it up and down in a bowl of water until a most delicious and soft lather results, and then her liege lord stoops over the bowl and she shampoos his long hair and scalp with vigor, neat
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CHAPTER XV THE INDIAN AND THE SEX QUESTION
CHAPTER XV THE INDIAN AND THE SEX QUESTION
Having studied medicine somewhat in my life, I have been permitted as a “medicine man” to know more of the intimate life of the Indian women than many white men. In this article I propose to give the results of many observations in this field, with full assurance that there are many things the white woman may learn from the Indian, both in her treatment of herself and her children. In the first place, the period of adolescence in both boys and girls is regarded with the importance it deserves. T
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CHAPTER XVI THE INDIAN AND HER BABY
CHAPTER XVI THE INDIAN AND HER BABY
I have elsewhere spoken of the Indian woman’s reception of her child. It is welcomed with joy, and yet in its first hour’s treatment most white women would think its life would terminate. After seeing that it breathes properly—that is, through the nose—the mother carries her little one to the nearest creek or water-hole and gives it a good bath. Cold water has no terrors for her, and she does not fear its use for the child. With this cold bath the child may be said to enter its earthly existence
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CHAPTER XVII THE INDIAN AND THE SANCTITY OF NUDITY
CHAPTER XVII THE INDIAN AND THE SANCTITY OF NUDITY
While adults of both sexes among all Indians wear either a skirt or a gee-string, there is not the slightest hesitancy in allowing the young, both boys and girls, to run about in a state of nudity. Since we have sent white teachers and missionaries to the Indians, they are beginning to learn that somehow—though they can’t sort it out just how or why—there is something indecent in allowing nude children to wander about their homes and villages. They are being taught to be “ashamed,”—their childre
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CHAPTER XVIII THE INDIAN AND FRANKNESS
CHAPTER XVIII THE INDIAN AND FRANKNESS
Another thing the white race might learn from the Indian, and it would be well for them if they did, is the virtue of frankness. If an Indian likes you or dislikes you, he lets you know. There is no pretense, no hypocrisy, and in his speech he indicates his feelings. Then, too, he is not offended by plain speech. If he lies and you tell him so, he honors you; and if you lie, he will not hesitate to say so. Making the fingers of both hands as a tongue on each side of the mouth, he says: “You talk
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CHAPTER XIX THE INDIAN AND REPINING
CHAPTER XIX THE INDIAN AND REPINING
In all my association with Indians, I cannot recall a single instance of repining, regret over the unalterable events of the past, weeping or wailing over joys lost, demoralizing self-pity, or magnified distress because “we have seen better days.” The simple, unpretentious, really democratic life of the Indian disposes of these latter ills to which the white race is heir by rendering them impossible, and repining and self-pity seem to have no place in their vocabulary. They weep and wail when th
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CHAPTER XX THE INDIAN AND THE SUPERFLUITIES OF LIFE
CHAPTER XX THE INDIAN AND THE SUPERFLUITIES OF LIFE
The white race may learn much from the Indian as to the superfluities of life. There is no question but that we—the white race—are cursed with the collecting habit; we are vexed by many possessions. And what is the good of much of what we gather? Mere trash, accumulated for show; bought without much thought merely to gratify a passing whim, and half the time we don’t know what to do with our purchases when we have made them. Our houses are no longer homes , they are converted into bric-a-brac es
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CHAPTER XXI THE INDIAN AND MENTAL POISE
CHAPTER XXI THE INDIAN AND MENTAL POISE
On a trip made recently from Yuma to the Salton Sea, down the overflow of the Colorado River, I found occasion to watch my two Indians in contrast with four white men of more than ordinary intelligence and ability. In some important things the Indians lost nothing by the comparison. Indeed, several times I called the attention of my white companions to them, and to certain characteristics which are by no means confined to them, but that belong to most Indians, and urged their emulation. Some of
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CHAPTER XXII THE INDIAN AND SELF-RESTRAINT
CHAPTER XXII THE INDIAN AND SELF-RESTRAINT
Few of the superior white race would think of looking to the Indian for examples of self-restraint, but I can give them here one of the most marked examples in history. Before the advent of the white man in America the various aboriginal tribes roamed over the plains, the mountains, the foothills, and in the forests, and with snare and trap, gin and bow and arrow caught or slew the game needed for food. These tribes were often hostile to each other; they trespassed on each other’s hunting-ground
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CHAPTER XXIII THE INDIAN AND AFFECTATION
CHAPTER XXIII THE INDIAN AND AFFECTATION
Most people of the white race may learn from the Indian in the matter of affectation. Few of us are simple and natural in our social manners. My own family often joke me, when, in answering the telephone, I respond in what they call my “dressy tone.” The other day a lady, whose husband is a college professor, mistook me for a distinguished eastern psychologist whose surname happens to be the same as mine. Until she discovered her mistake she “minced and mouthed” in a most ludicrous fashion (how
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CHAPTER XXIV THE INDIAN AND ART WORK
CHAPTER XXIV THE INDIAN AND ART WORK
Even our artists and designers may learn much of great importance from the Indian. While to most of my readers it may come as a surprise that I claim great artistic powers for the Indian, yet no one can carefully study the basketry and pottery of the Amerind and not know the perfect justice of the claim. In my larger work on this subject 5 I have fairly discussed the ability of the Indians in this regard; and to those who are not aware of the vast debt the white race owes to the aboriginal woman
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CHAPTER XXV THE INDIAN AND RELIGIOUS WORSHIP
CHAPTER XXV THE INDIAN AND RELIGIOUS WORSHIP
THE DIGNIFIED AND SOLEMN ROW OF SNAKE PRIESTS IN THE HOPI SNAKE DANCE CEREMONIES. HOPI INDIANS AT THEIR FLUTE CEREMONIES. THIS IS A PRAYER FOR WATER TO FLOW INTO THEIR DESERT SPRINGS. Another thing that the civilized of this age may well learn from the Indian is intense earnestness and sincerity in all matters of religion. It is a painful thing for me to go into many of our city churches. Well-dressed women and girls and young men will sit and whisper through even the most sacred parts of the se
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CHAPTER XXVI THE INDIAN AND IMMORTALITY
CHAPTER XXVI THE INDIAN AND IMMORTALITY
To the materialist immortality is a foolish dream, to the agnostic an unjustified human craving, to the simple Christian a belief, and to the transcendentalist a confident hope, but to the Indian it is as positive an assurance as is life. The white race has complicated its belief in the future life with many theological dogmas. The Roman Catholic church has its purgatory, as well as its paradise and hell; the first as a place of purging for the sins committed in the body and that must be burned
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CHAPTER XXVII VISITING THE INDIANS
CHAPTER XXVII VISITING THE INDIANS
Occasionally I meet with people who would like to visit real Indians in their real homes,—not the dressed-up Indians in a made home, like those of the Midway Plaisance of the World’s Fair or of a “Wild West” show, and they ask me how they can do so. To the ordinary traveler of to-day, who requires all the comforts of a Pullman and a dining car, and who is not willing to forego them for the hardships of a camping-out trip, my advice is don’t, although the hardships are more so in name than in fac
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